Lonmin's decision to suspend eight National Union of Mineworkers's (NUM) members on Wednesday, allegedly for submitting fake membership forms, has fed into the union's fears that mining bosses in the platinum sector are unfairly victimising it to achieve "regime change" in the sector.
The issue at hand is the allegation that NUM members fraudulently changed the membership of names on stop orders, from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) to the NUM, to falsely bolster the NUM's numbers. About 200 stop orders were allegedly changed in this way. The NUM has until July 16 to up its membership numbers and regain its status as majority union at Lonmin, or vacate its offices.
The union strongly denied that its members were involved in the fraudulent altering of stop orders and asserts that Lonmin has known about the fraud all along.
The revelations about the suspensions, as well as the NUM's counter-claims, came off of the back of a week of talks in the mining industry to bring stability to that sector and end the violence stalking the platinum belt in the North West.
In an effort to quell the ongoing violence in the industry, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant met with union bosses on Monday ahead of what is bound to be a fractious wage negotiation season. The NUM said it gave its assurances that it would submit to her demands for peace.
But the NUM is furious about the suspension of its members this week. The union's spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said Lonmin knew about the manipulation of union membership figures since August 2012. He said the issue was raised with Lonmin when, in the days leading up to the Marikana massacre, NUM members claimed they found themselves on Amcu membership lists without their permission.
But no action was taken until now, the union claimed.
System error
On Wednesday, NUM president Senzeni Zokwana said the union has been periodically told by Lonmin that the issue was the result of a system error.
"Their [the eight suspended members] right to a fair trial is being trampled on. I don't condone that. It's against their own policies," Zokwana said.
Seshoka released a statement on Wednesday in which he accused Lonmin of "playing to the gallery" in its decision to announce the suspensions this week. Lonmin did not respond to questions on Wednesday afternoon.
Seshoka added: "For months on end, NUM members have complained that they have been made to join other unions without their knowledge, which management found to be the truth. While the so-called management has been aware who the culprits are, the company has not been able to bring any of them to a disciplinary hearing.
"Our shop stewards are now harassed by the company under the pretext of rigging membership, an allegation that the NUM rejects with the contempt it deserves," he said.
"The NUM further rejects the notion of the company having to conduct its internal disciplinary hearings through the media, a practice which it subjects only to NUM members," Seshoka commented lastly.
Zokwana said he believes the mining bosses have sold out to "profits" and that their inability to address inter-union hostilities is partly to blame for the violence.
Calls
Oliphant's spokesperson Musa Zondi said Monday's meeting was called against the backdrop of calls by President Jacob Zuma that Oliphant and other ministers should consult with stakeholders in their portfolios to save the ailing economy. Zuma's remarks on Thursday came minutes before the rand plunged to a four-year-low of R10 to the US dollar.
Zokwana said the meeting did not address "figures" such as the NUM's reported 60% wage increase for its members in the minerals sector. Zokwana said this figure was not final and that the NUM was open to negotiations and would submit a final offer based on its own research and factors such as inflation and fuel prices.
Rather, Monday's meeting addressed the "atmosphere" in the mining industry, "especially the spate of violence underlying the illegal strike", Zokwana said.
"The minister [Oliphant] said if the situation is not addressed leading up to the wage negotiations, it will not be a conducive environment. For example, right now, the Labour Relations Act is not being observed by some parties with regards to strike action. Worse than that is the atmosphere around the murders," he said.
An NUM shop steward was shot dead on Monday, while another NUM member was shot and injured.
The murder is the latest in a spate of killings and suicides at Marikana since the August 16 massacre.
Shortly after Monday's shooting, Lonmin said it was "appalled and horrified at this senseless violence". It has established a hotline so that threats of violence or intimidation can be reported.
'Number one priority'
"And we call on all stakeholders – in particular our unions – to exercise the necessary leadership and to be unequivocal in condemning murder and the use of violence.
"The safety and security of our employees and their families is our number one priority – we call for calm on our property and in the community. Lonmin has a zero tolerance policy towards carrying weapons on our property and we have increased the visibility of security throughout the operations … We want to remind all our stakeholders that we have all made a commitment through the signing of the 'framework for peace and stability' to find solution in a peaceful manner for the sake of all," the company said.
Meanwhile, Zokwana blamed a number of contributing factors for the violence, including a "hatred" of the NUM.
"I view this as the result of a build-up … people have hatred towards us. They sing 'how we will kill the NUM' during their strikes," Zokwana said. But the NUM has given the minister its "unequivocal" support that it will not be part of the violence, Zokwana insisted, despite his knowledge that workers have armed themselves.
He said this was because miners cannot trust the state to protect them and the police have failed to address the threats of violence.
"People are being encouraged to undermine the other person no matter what their differences are. The government hasn't shown that it is serious about this. The police tried to go to Marikana, where there is a lot of lawlessness and fear that guys are walking around armed. Police tried to disarm them. And you know what happened? The police were chased away.
"So how can I believe that my case is being properly investigated?" he said.
Zokwana said he believes the solution to the platinum belt's problems is the peace accord signed by all parties after the Marikana massacre.
"We all signed that agreement, and it deals with the verification of membership, as well as the issue of union office occupation. Nobody seems to care about that anymore. But the NUM has kept that agreement to the letter."
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